I wish you'd stay
by purplepagoda
Summary: One of the gang is leaving. Will this prompt true feelings to be revealed, or will all be lost? The center must hold, but what happens when half of it walks away? Can it be fixed?
1. Chapter 1

"Have you told them?" Cam asks as Temperance stares at her keyboard.

"Told them what?"

"Your news?"

"Not yet."

"Are you going to?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Soon."

"You don't have much time left."

"I know."

"But you'll tell them?"

"Yes Cam I'll tell them."

She and Booth are at the diner for lunch that day. She stares at him instead of eating her food. He senses this.

"Something wrong with your food?"

"Nope."

"Something wrong with my face?"

"It's the same as always."

"Something bothering you?"

"I'm going to Charlotte."

"North Carolina?"

"Yes."

"To visit?"

"No."

"Vacation?"

"No."

"To lecture?"

"I'm going to move there."

"You're going to move there?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? You can't leave. Angela, and Hodgins, and Zack, and Sweets, and Cam they all need you."

"No they don't."

"We're the center. How will the center hold if you're gone?"

"Things will work out, I'm sure."

"Is it permanent?"

"Uh huh."

"Do you need help packing?"

"I've already packed. Everything is there, but me."

"You can't leave we need you here."

"I need to go tell Angela," she excuses herself.

Temperance finds Angela in her office.

"Hey Ange can we talk?"

"Sure what's up?"

"I'm leaving."

"I thought that you already left. In fact why are you done with lunch so soon?"

"Not for lunch. I'm going to Charlotte."

"To lecture?"

"To teach, and..."

"How long? A couple of weeks."

"Forever."

"What do you mean forever."

"I'm leaving. I've enjoyed working here, but I'm ready for a change. I was offered the job, and I decided to take it."

"When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow."

"What? You're leaving tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"To look at places to stay?"

"No. I already got a place. I'm leaving for good tomorrow."

"Why didn't you talk to me about this?"

"I didn't want you to try to stop me."

"You're and idiot."

"Excuse me?"

"Running, it won't fix it."

"Running? I'm not running."

"Your love it's not going to go away. You won't stop loving him just because he's here and you're there."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Stay."

"I can't."

"You can't leave us, you can't leave Booth."

"Give me one good reason."

"He loves you."

"No he doesn't. Angela you need to stop fantasizing about Booth and I getting together because it's not going to happen. He has no feelings for me."

"Did you tell him?"

"I told him at lunch."

"You won't be happy there."

"I have to make this move. I need this."

"You need to stay here. You need to rectify this."

"Rectify what exactly?"

"Tell Booth."

"Tell him what?"

"That you love him."

"Why would I do that?"

"You know what never mind. If you don't want to fight for this, fine. I've never known you to back down from a fight, but whatever. Take the easy way out, but you won't be happy. You'll be miserable. And when you're in Charlotte being miserable we'll all be here, and no one will be there for you to pick up the pieces."

"I'm moving to Charlotte. I'm starting over."

"Go ahead. I can't stop you, but you have to realize that it's a mistake."

"Angela I have to go tell Sweets."

"Why?"

"Because..."

"Why did you have to tell any of us? You obviously don't care how we feel, or you would have told us earlier. You would have asked us how we felt. You would have listened."

"Angela you're being irrational."

"I don't give a damn about rationality, or logic."

Temperance walks away. The following morning at eight a.m. sharp she boards a plane. When she lands she goes straight to her new home. She sits down on her couch, and opens her bag. She searches for a bottle of ibuprofen for her killer headache. She instead finds an envelope addressed to her. The outside has _Temperance_ written on it. She opens it, and unfolds a note. She carefully reads it to herself.

_Temperance,_

_I know that since we've met you've changed. I understand. I won't try to change it. I'll let you go. I would never want to hold you back from your goals, and aspirations. I've enjoyed working with you. I'll miss you. There is one thing that you must know, what you do about it is your choice, but you must know. I wish you'd stay._

_Love,_

_Seeley_

She casts the letter aside as tears well in her eyes. She doesn't fight it she allows the warm tears to cascade down her cheeks. She looks around. This wasn't home, it was just a place to sleep while she wasn't at work. Her phone begins to ring. It's her new boss. Infuriated she throws the phone. It bounces of the wall and hits the floor. She leaves it where it lands. She stares at the broken pieces. What was she doing? Was Angela right? Was she running? She could hear Angela's voice in the back of her head saying, "I told you so."

4 P.M. Washington D.C. The Jeffersonian:

"It's too quiet," Angela remarks as she Clark, and Cam stare at a set of remains sitting on the table.

"She doesn't know that he loves her does he?"

"No Cam she doesn't. She doesn't know that she loves him either."

"I haven't seen him all day."

"I talked to Sweets, he says that he's not answering his phone."

"Maybe we should call him."

"Yeah," Angela agrees flipping out her cell phone. It rings and rings finally there is an answer.

"Booth."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at work Angela where are you?"

"Work. Why aren't you here?"

"I'm doing paperwork."

"Oh."

"I've got to go I'm getting a call."

"Ok, bye." she hangs up.

At the Hoover building Agent Booth's private line is ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hey Booth it's Charlie. I just got a call that your car is being towed."

"Yeah, ok. I'll be down in a minute."

When he arrives in the parking lot he finds his car in the parking lot where he left it with no sign of a tow truck. He rides the elevator back to the floor his office is on. He spots Charlie making a cup of coffee.

"Charlie what the Hell? My car is fine."

"Sorry, a woman called and told me that your car was being towed."

"You know what, never mind."

When he returns to his office his chair's back is facing him. He stares it with a look of puzzlement on his face.

"Did I leave the chair like that?" he asks himself aloud.

The chair spins around. "No," the woman in the chair answers.

"Bones what are you doing here? I thought that you left."

"I did."

"Did you forget something?"

"Not quite."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I got your letter."

"Oh. I... I can't believe that you're here."

"I'm not going back."

"What are you saying."

"I belong here."

"In the Hoover building? In my chair?"

She smiles, "No, just here with you."

"Are you sure about that? Wouldn't you rather be in Charlotte?"

"There is no place in the world I'd rather be."

"Than in D.C.?"

"Than with you."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Completely."

"What does this mean?"

"I'm staying."

"What about us?"

"Wherever you are is where I want to be."


	2. Chapter 2

"What does this mean for us?"

"What do you mean?"

"What does this make us?"

"We're partners."

"You just told me that you want to be wherever I am," he reminds her.

"I know."

"I don't understand."

"We can't be together. You understand that right?"

"No, not at all."

"We're colleagues, partners. If we have a romantic relationship then we'll put our partnership at risk, henceforth putting the people around us at odds and..."

"You're assuming that it won't work."

"I don't see how it could. We're two totally different people."

"That's the beauty of it."

"We can't be together it would never work."

"Answer me something."

"What?"

"Do you love me?"

"I..."

"You can't lie to me. I know you too well."

"What do you want me to say?"

"I just want the truth."

"I thought that me coming back because of you made it perfectly clear that I had feelings for you."

"You made that clear when you didn't go with Sully."

"What more do you want?"

"I want you."

"It won't work."

"It will if don't try to stop it."

"Booth..."

"Temperance it's just the two of us here. Tell me the truth."

"No."

"Why not?"

"No one in this world knows me like you. No one knows more about me. I don't want to be hurt."

"I would never hurt you."

"You already have," a lump forms in her throat.

"What do you mean?"

"When you died. That hurt me. I didn't have anyone to talk to. I would have told someone, but that someone was gone."

"Me?"

"Yes you. You're the one I tell those kinds of things to, and suddenly you were just gone. You were dead and it was my fault."

"How was that your fault?"

"She wanted to kill me. You stood in front of the bullet."

"Temperance..."

"She wanted me dead because she thought that you had feelings for me. She shot you because she didn't want me standing in her way. I don't want that on my conscience. I don't want to put your life at risk again because people think that we have feelings for one another."

"She was right."

"What?"

"I do have feelings for you."

"You're my partner we can't be together."

"Our partnership means more to you and being together romantically?"

"If we're together romantically the bureau will separate us. If they separate us we won't be able to catch murderers. Two lives cannot be more valuable than hundreds, even thousands."

"What about personal happiness?"

"It isn't important."

"It is."

"We can't be together."

"If we can't be together you might as well go back to Charlotte."

"Why?"

"Because I can't be your partner. I can't be your partner knowing that we have feelings for each other and you refuse to do anything about it."

"Booth..."

"I love you," he tells her.

She stares at him. "Why did you have to say that?"

"Because it's a true fact."

"But you said it, and now... now you can't take it back."

"I wouldn't want to."

"I can't un-hear it."

He stares into her deep blue-green eyes, "Temperance do you love me?"

"Relationships are temporary."

"Only if you want them to be. What we have is something special. What we have is lasting, it's forever."

"But..."

"There are no buts. I love you."

"I..."

"You what?"

"I wait on you to call. To hear your voice. I tried to pretend that I didn't have feelings for you. I tried to have other relationships, but they were never right. None of them were you."

"What are you saying to me?"

"I love you."

"So what is the problem? Why can't we be together?"

"Statistics show that..."

"Screw the statistics. I need you in my life. I need you to be in my life forever."

"I can't promise that."

"Then don't. Just give me today."

"What?"

"Don't promise me forever. Just give today. Just take it one day at a time. No one promised us a tomorrow, so just give me today."

"Ok."

"Ok?"

"Yes. Ok. I can do that."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"So what does this mean?"

"For today I'll be yours."

"My what?"

"Just yours."

"You hungry?"

"Always."

"Let's go have dinner."

"Don't you have..."

"It's just paperwork. Besides it's not any fun without you."

She smiles at him. He smiles back at her.


End file.
